How can the media just ignore 100,000 dead Iraqis?

[veracity]

It's really a horror. The report came out a few days ago - from John Hopkins U. And they show that the American and coalition forces are responsible for the deaths of about 100,000 people.... many of them women and children. Does anyone care?

WHAT PRICE APATHY?

TvNewsLIES.org looks at
MEDIA INDIFFERENCE TO IRAQI DEATHS

Eight marines were killed this morning in Iraq. The report came between a clip about the candidates’ schedules and the weather report. Nine marines were wounded. And, oh yes, there’ll be a Red Sox parade in Boston.

We’ve grown accustomed to the war. Cities are bombed, soldiers die, hostages are executed, chaos increases, but war news is no longer the big story. No more fanfare, no more flags waving, no more banners that celebrate Operation Iraqi Freedom. No totals of war dead. No photos of returning coffins, no funerals no images of grief.

And all the while, in every stump speech, George Bush raves about progress. Dick Cheney calls Iraq is a remarkable success story. Oh, yes, - that bit about missing explosives. They’ll check it out after the election. Yawn.

Uh, by the way, - did you hear that report about Iraqi deaths in the war? What was that number? Oh yes, - 100,000!!! ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND IRAQIS MAY HAVE BEEN KILLED AS A RESULT OF THE BUSH/PNAC INVASION. Not too important, considering that the Scott Peterson trial was winding up. And, oh yes – that lip-synch episode on SNL had to be aired over and over. Imagine it: 100,000 people would just about fill Fenway Park three times over. 100,000 people are dead because of an illegal, immoral and ill-planned war waged by this administration. 100,000 people - who remain ignored, forgotten, and irrelevant on the eve of this historic election....

More....http://tvnewslies.org/html/what_price_apathy_.html

[Robbie67]

1. If the government ignores it

the media will certainly do the same

[Downtown Hound]

2. The media is the enemy of the American people

we need to understand that. Always assume that they will do whatever they can to increase their profit margin, and for them that means getting Bush elected.

[mhr]

3. Have You Answered Your Own Question? The Media Supports Bush

'nuff said!

[DemNoir]

4. They don't have what it takes

To register on the U.S. media death scale one must be a young white female of at least a middle class backround.

[mr blur]

5. Well, you may be living in the only country ...

where the media is ignoring it. Over here in Europe it's not being ignored, although Murdoch's papers aren't crazy about it.

[seemslikeadream]

6. Just as they ignored

3 million dead in Vietnam

[Karenina]

16. They weren't white either.

[Endangered Specie]

7. The death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

-Stalin

[Hippo_Tron]

9. I love the Picard/Riker sign in your sig!

BTW, don't you think that Al Gore with the beard kinda looks like Will Riker with the beard, or is it just me?

[teach1st]

8. I've been posting about this on an educational site

I've been posting about this on an educational site full of Kerry supporters. It doesn't register. It draws a blank.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Dead Iraqis don't sell beer or lipstick.

Pictures of dead children upset shoppers. Much better to focus on the dangers of hair loss, or toe fungus, or the latest celebrity sex antics.

The media isn't interested in news, it's interested in what sells. Dead civilians don't.

[ClintonTyree]

11. The DOD estimates "only"............

38,000 or so. At least that's what listed on their site. See, its ONLY 38,000! What are you worried about? Just a little collateral damamge, that's all.
It's a shame Bush doesn't have a conscience. I hope he gets one, FAST, and the souls of every one of them haunt him for the rest of his life. He's a mass muderer and I hope there's a special place in hell for he and his pals.

[Ivan Sputnik]

12. Because

only white people of middle-class background or above are considered fully human by the US media. (Celebrities of other ethnicity may also be included.) They never say this explicitly, but it's implicit in mainstream media coverage.

[Psephos]

13. Statistically speaking...

The 95% confidence interval for this study is from 8,000 to 194,000 dead.

Applying what I learned in Stats 110 (don't ask how long ago!), that means that the authors are 95% certain that the true number of dead is between 8,000 and 194,000. The 100,000 number is merely the middle of this range. When you state a confidence interval, the midpoint of the range is not more likely than any other part of the range to be accurate. In other words, the 100,000 figure is a guess...but it's the number that has migrated out to the media.

The endpoints of this range are very far apart. If you aren't familiar with statistics, this means the data is smeared out over such a wide range that it's practically useless. It could be 10,000 dead, it could be 180,000 dead. By analogy, it's like saying that Lebron shot somewhere between 4 and 40 points in his last basketball game. So did he have a good game, an amazing game, or a substandard game? Who knows?

I'd stay clear of this one, folks...it's guaranteed to be shredded by analysts who understands statistics. It's a sloppy effort, plain and simple. We have better drums to beat.

I'm not saying the study is wrong; it could be wrong, it could be right, it could even be underestimating the true number. My own opinion is that they are definitely on to something here. But the authors left themselves wide open to professional (rather than political) criticism about their methodology, the distribution of their data, and their conclusions.

[Karenina]

18. I understand the discipline from which you come...

But I MUST call out the apologetic post. Who knows if the "numbers" are accurate? :shrug: Keep track of the "scuffles," fudged numbers of American dead, check the photos, extrapolate what you know about impoverished areas with no electricity or clean water, calculate the tonnage of explosives dropped or "lost," the LIKELIHOOD is that 195,000 DEAD is in fact CONSERVATIVE. Paricularly so if you include, as seems to be the Bible Belt wont, all the dead fetuses, spontaneously aborted due to the stress of daily life, environmental poisons or dependence on a host who just got BLOWN UP, SHOT UP or otherwise ATTACKED.

This peculiarly sterile Amurikkan view of the world makes me want to :puke: :puke: :puke:

(That was NOT a personal shot at you, Psephos. Your post simply highlights what the ROTW finds INCOMPREHENSIBLE about the Ami mindset. You wax philosopical while denying the STENCH of dead bodies. It's absurd).

[drmom]

14. It so sad what has become of our policitally motivated press

[camero]

15. Most of the media are PNACers

They make money off the dead just like Bush.

[Elidor]

17. Remember Rumsfeld in F911?

Assuring a reporter that the air strikes were surgical? That he was amazed at how much care and empathy went into bombing these people? Rumsfeld needs a trial at the hague, followed by a first-class hanging.